3-29-07
Koach Karl & Coach John,
DR - Well, it looks like I won't be coaching the select team after all, I will probably be an assistant coach on either a U10 or U11 select team.
KD - Count your blessings and go back to being a head coach in the non-select program -if possible. There, you will/can continue to grow as a coach and still have lots of FUN developing your own and your players abilities. You must remember that parents expectations in the non-select program are still (somewhat) under control. Having reasonable and supportive parents allows you to focus on player development and development of the players must be the main focus of all coaches working with these young children!!!
Let me state very plainly, 'There is no such thing as a 'select players' in the U10 or U11 age groups' It is impossible to predict the potential of an athlete until after they have reached puberty. Michael Jordan was cut by his high school coach and he turned out to be a fairly good basketball player. Don't you think?
Facts, Statistics and Observations have shown that the average professional soccer player reaches playing maturity at or after the age of 23. So, your 10-11 year olds’ should be given at least another 10+ years before they are separated out. I have often wondered, 'Who are these special people and what are their special credentials that give them the special abilities to select the special
players?'
Did you know that many soccer experts have stated that, 'The Sport of Soccer Eliminates the Late Maturer?' The bottom line... Separating early maturers from late maturers is criminal and I am sure you don't want to be part of something that is detrimental to the children. Do you?
DR - That's fine,
KD - Sometimes I wonder how the children feel when they are told, like you were, that they are not good enough at this time? Do the children have past life experiences that help them get over the hurt of seeing friends being picked while they are not?
If you feel 'fine' and realize you have other options ... I wonder how all those 10-11 year olds feel' after being cut because I know that they don't realize that they have other options..?
DR - It's not like I don't have anything to learn!
KD - I have been in the sport for over 30+ years and I am still learning :)
DR- So, you guys will still get plenty of emails from me, just not quite as many.
KD - Actually, we expect more emails from you because you have the background to evaluate both Good/bad coaching and non-select/select coaching.
DR - Something else that you might want to know is that out of the 14 players on
my team last year, FIVE (and maybe 6) have moved on to play select soccer this
year.
KD - Congratulations and let's hope they have as nice an experience in the
'select' program as they had with you in the un-select program.
I would appreciate your staying in touch with them and giving me a report on their progress. Let me know how they are enjoying the 'select' program as compared to their time with you.
DR - Obviously, I can't take credit for this, but what I can say is that using the 9-step
routine four our practice sessions and the encouragement that I received from
your end played no small part in this.
KD - You can not take credit for their maturing faster than the other girls who did not make this 'select' roster.
However, you must take credit and should be congratulated for making last year so enjoyable that they returned to play this year. Please keep tabs on these girls and let' us know how many of the five/six come back to play soccer after their 'select' season?
DR - Thank you (and John) for helping me instill a love of the game in the kids
and a love of coaching in me.
KD - You did all the work and made the proper adjustments. We 'thank you' for having the courage to put the children first and sticking to the '9-Step
Practice Routine' which guarantees the kind of success you enjoyed..!
DR - You will hear from me again soon.
KD - John and I look forward in taking you through the trials and tribulations of the 'select' season that you are about to begin.
Your FUNdamental,
Koach Karl
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3-30-07 A Prediction Coach John A. makes a Prediction for David when he wrote… David is going to go nuts. I can't stand being assistant coach any more, and I simply won't do it. A similar thing that happened to David happened to me, and then I had to assist a strong willed head coach who had kids standing in lines, doing football drills during soccer practice, had our players practicing shooting at the goalie (to give the goalie practice???), etc., etc.
That's the bad news about the FUNdamental program. Once you learn it, you don't want to do it any other way. So I fear that David will become frustrated when the head coach doesn't listen to his suggestions, but hopefully he will be persuasive!
So I'm not sure he will have many questions for us, but he should have some good war stories about how not to coach!
Thanks - John
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Prediction Comes True
There is no word from Coach David until 10-25-07 when the subject line on his email entitled. “Yikeees!” had the following to say…
Greetings Koach Karl - It's been one heck of a summer and season; we have lost two coaches I apparently am the remaining survivor, have semi-irate parents and I need to come up with a few practice plans for a team that hasn't been using the 9 step approach (much to my dismay). I would like to just start with the 9 step since it is now totally up to me but would like to talk with you about how best to do this with such a short part of the season left. Might I call you sometime in the morning and discuss things with you?
Thanks,
Coach Dave
KD - Lengthy phone conversation takes place on 10-26-07
The gist of the conversation is getting back to the ‘9-Step Practice Routine’ J
Coach Dave’s response… 10-27-07
Koach Karl –
Thanks for being available the other day – Our conversation helped me a lot through a potentially stressful situation!
As a recap, I have been one of two assistant coaches for a U11 girls select team this season. The head coach did not employ the 9-step routine, and since I was his assistant, I adopted his approach, helping him where I could. The girls have only scored 4 goals all season (in 11 games, including tournaments) to our opponents 20 – 25 goals. Needless to say, the girls have been getting a bit discouraged and seem to be loosing interest.
It has been clear to me over the course of the season that we have been trying to teach the girls too much, too fast and have not been taking the approach if teaching a single concept at a time – consequently the learning curve has been very, very slow and shallow. Further, I have observed that during the games the girls are relatively timid in attacking the ball – they seem to be waiting for something rather than challenging the opposing player, etc.
Having used the 9-step routine over the past couple of years I have been frustrated with this and have felt all along that applying the 9-step routine would really, really help these girls. Trying to teach them only one concept each practice just seems to make more sense than working on several tactical things each practice. I also felt that the 1+1 and 1v1 games could really help these girls learn how to attack that ball and be a little more aggressive. If I sound like a salesman, I am – I really, really believe in the 9-step approach – I’ve seen it work!
Due to a series of unlikely events, I recently found myself (as in the day before practice and near the end of the season) as the sole coach of this demoralized team (both parents and players). For my first practice, as per your suggestion, I let them just get out there and have fun playing soccer – and did that by applying a modified 9- step approach. Starting practice and warm-ups were pretty straightforward; for the 1+1 and 1v1 games, I helped them set up the fields, showed what to do and let ‘em rip. They got it really quick – I only had them move the ball around the pattern, not focusing on how to go around each cone, use sole of the foot or anything like that. I was happy to get them going around the cones, serving and playing a 1v1 game. I let them do this for quite a while (about 25 minutes) because they seemed to be having fun. I was pleased to hear several of the girls say, “I know how to do this” as we were setting things up. We kept score and I promised the two high scorers they would be captains at the next game. After halftime, I went straight to the scrimmage because a couple of the girls needed to leave early and I wanted to make sure they were included in the team event. They had a great time – it was one of the very few “true “ scrimmages the team has had all year. They had a blast, scored a bunch of goals – and they got quite a workout! I let them do this for quite a while too!
With not much time left, I cooled them down with a little game that I learned in the E license course, ended practice and sent them packing with an assignment of at least touching a soccer ball every day for 10 – 15 minutes/day.
Our next practice, we are having a “guest coach” – an English soccer coach that we had hired earlier in the season. I’m going to get his opinion as to what we should focus on and try to work his input (with his help) into the 9-step format. I’ll let you know what we come up with. This will be his last practice with us for the season, so the design of the remaining eight practices will be entirely up to me.
Four the first of the eight I would like to have a theme involving passing and in the short-sided games introduce the concept of the “Y” to start working on positioning (it seems that the passing theme would work well with this – I don’t even need to tell them we are working on positioning).
What do you think Karl? – Please let me know.
It’s getting late, I’m tired and it’s time to go to bed – I’ll be in touch and thanks for all of your help!
Coach Dave